Before you ask, this is my story. I would like to share with you how I came to leave the UK and the corporate IT world for living a dream in Andalusia (Spain).From programmer to dressmaker – a logical career change? Many people ask and even I was wondering for some time how I could make such a drastic move. When I spent some time thinking it quickly became clear that some common elements combine the two professions:
- The actual process of completing a project is very similar: I start off talking to the client analysing the requirements. Then I work out the design. After that I withdraw to do the technical work (ok, sewing and programming do differ somewhat). Then I meet the client again to test the outcome before finishing it off.
- Both require a combination of technical skill and creativity. Recognising this helped me a lot to find out what, on an abstract level, makes me love a job. If one of the two components is missing I will invariably get frustrated and leave.
I started off working as a translator. I still find the process of translating fascinating but as a job it was simply awful and when I noticed that I was dreading Mondays I knew it was time to change.
Actually, for me dreading Mondays is always a clear sign that I never ignore.
So I found a job in a software company and quickly discovered that programming would be for me. I studied and read everything I could and ended up working in big banks in Australia and London (UK). I loved it for about 10 years until the IT industry changed and “outsourcing” became the new way of doing (or rather ruining) software projects. So, about 4 years ago, there I was again — frustrated at work and … dreading Mondays.
I was tired of living in London by that time and on a holiday to Granada in the south of Spain I imagined how lovely it would be to live in one of those pretty white houses in the old part of town.
Now what? Why not give it a go? If it didn’t work out I could still pack my bags and go elsewhere. But what would I do to earn a living?
I asked myself what I would most love to do if I had no constraints to worry about. At the time I was making a dress while listening to flamenco music. And there it was — the idea for my new career: being my own boss making flamenco dresses. In the back of my mind there was always this dream of having my own business but I never felt it to be feasible for me in IT. But sewing was a different matter. I knew how to sew, had all the basic equipment to get started, I would be able to work from home so I wouldn’t need to invest a lot of money to get it off the ground. The more I thought about it the more I realised that there was nothing really stopping me.
To make a long story short, I decided to take the plunge and moved to Spain. I found a place to live in one of those houses I had so loved during my first stay and set up the sewing machines. I made a number of sample outfits and offered my service to any local flamenco school I could find.
I sold the first skirt to a little flamenco shop. My first big project a couple of months later involved making 12 identical outfits for a flamenco school’s end of term performance and things just slowly but steadily grew from there. These days I do no marketing campaigns as such at all – repeat customers and word of mouth keep me busy.
A few things helped a lot when getting started:
- From the years in IT I had some savings
- When I told my boss that I was leaving he suggested that I keep working for the bank remotely from Spain, which I did for the first 8 months. This took the pressure off having to live off the new business straight away.
- I did speak enough Spanish to defend myself. Once there this made it easy to get started and learn to speak well quickly.
- It wasn’t the first time I had changed country or career so it wasn’t all that scary.
Conclusion to date: I haven’t regretted it for a second. It isn’t always easy. Sometimes I feel that I work harder for less money than ever but seeing dresses I have made on a flamenco stage gives me a satisfaction no job has ever provided and I’ll never have to wonder how things would have turned out had I followed my dream.
Anke Herrmann
Author: Anke Herrmann
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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